There is Room at The Well

   

     Most preschoolers learn a little rhyme about a girl and boy named Jack and Jill. They are on a mission to climb a hill to fetch a pail of water from the Well. That sounds easy enough especially for the little energetic children reciting this story. But like most memorable stories, something goes wrong at the top of the hill with the pail full of water.

    Did the water splash on the grass to create a slick spot that caused Jack to slip? Did he step in a rabbit hole that caused the fall? Why did Jill come tumbling after? The poor couple had been so close to accomplishing their goal when it all went wrong.

    There is another well I learned about through flannel graph stories. As the Bible story began my Sunday school teacher in a corduroy plum colored skirt and lavender pearl buttoned silk blouse smiled at us. Her brown nyloned legs crossed at the ankle as she sat in her big blue teacher’s chair next to the easel holding the flannel graph board. With brown feathered hair that framed her pastel painted face, she held the unnamed Samaritan woman in her hand.

    The paper figure in a white and cranberry stripe dress held a tall jar on her shoulder but her brown curly hair was left uncovered because she was a “bad” woman. I watched spellbound as the teacher placed the slender figure on the blue flannel graph board.

    Next our proper teacher placed a Well next to the woman. I had already learned that in the “bible days” there was always a Well. In fact this paper well, was worn on the edges from its repeated use. We had learned a few weeks before that Abraham had to move away from his nephew Lot, because their servants were fighting over the same well. Then the week before, Isaac had to dig three wells before the Philistines would allow him to settle in the land.

    Now Jesus was coming to the Well. The same well this Samaritan woman was standing by with her sun dried clay jar. She was a lone figure at the common biblical location. I could relate to the need for water. I felt thirsty and I was quietly hoping for a snack of saltine crackers and a Dixie cup of water as we sat in the little chairs around the bean shaped almond finished kindergarten table.

    Next to me, Art Detmer, my distant cousin was playing with his brown clip-on tie. He saw me looking at him and quickly stuck his tongue out at me. I wondered again why we had to be related. Fortunately, our devoted teacher’s voice captured my attention again.

“And the Samaritan woman was alone because she was a sinful woman. Sin separates us from the life we really want…but Jesus spoke to her.”

“May I have a drink of water?” he said.

Next, the teacher with powder pink fingernails placed a vibrant sun above the Well.

“In the heat of the day Jesus came to the Well, and so did the Samaritan woman because she knew no one else would be there at that time due to the heat. She came alone because she didn’t have any friends.”

I leaned in as if I could see the perspiration on their foreheads. Jesus pursued this lonely woman at the Well, but why? I wondered.

     Looking at my patient teacher I spoke, “Was Jesus thirsty, because I am.”

The teacher with lovely feathered hair smiled at me but continued the lesson.  She took the Samaritan woman down and replaced her with a second image of the woman’s profile with arms out imploringly toward the Well.

“You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan why would you talk to me, let alone ask for a drink of water? The woman asked.

    She replaced the tall composed Jesus with a leaning forward Jesus standing on the other side of the Well with one arm extended toward the woman and the other toward the water.

“If you knew who asked you for this water you would ask for living water that never runs dry. You would drink it and never thirst again.”

Did I see the Samaritan woman inch closer?

Our well-dressed teacher paused. She fidgeted with her string of pearls while finding her place again in the bible lesson she was reading to us.

I continued to wonder:

Could Jesus really satisfy her thirst?

What kind of water filled this flannel graph well?

Finding her place, the lavender silk arm placed a paper jar at Jesus’ feet.

“This is the Well of our Father Jacob, but it is said that when the Holy one comes He will lead us into all truth.” The Samaritan woman said.

Jesus replied, “I am He, do you believe?”

From that moment my little hands felt sweaty as I thought I saw the one dimensional Samaritan jump up and down.

“Yes, I do believe.”

Under the hot sun, this woman found the refreshment her soul needed. In my little 5-year-old heart I too whispered, “I believe.”

    Like Jack and Jill I fetched my pail of living water that day, but as the years of my young life unfolded I found myself tumbling down the hill spilling the living water on the ground and injuring my soul in the process. But I am thankful that by God’s grace He helped me back up again.

     My faith had many one-dimensional moments of narrowed focus. I went to church (period). Then I lived my life how I wanted. Still the living water drew me back to the well again and again.

This living water still draws me back to the well in the heat of the day when I wish to see no one. Jesus is there willing to talk, willing to listen, and willing to revive. I have learned by such great love that there is room at the well for me and for you. All it takes to be refreshed is the simple act of believing.

“Come see the One who has told me everything I have ever done. Could this be the Christ?” The Samaritan Woman (John 4:29)